Govt says will halve business conditions

HCMC – The Government has issued Resolution 01 asking ministries and agencies to halve the current business conditions to improve the business environment, the Government news website reports.

At a meeting between the Government and local authorities last week, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hailed the Ministries of Industry-Trade, Agriculture-Rural Development and Construction for removing from one-third to half of their business conditions. However, there have been many complicated procedures.

Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long said there are 243 fields still bound by 4,284 business and investment conditions.

It is difficult for enterprises as these conditions change frequently. Some of the conditions even appear in different decrees by different ministries and agencies. For example, business conditions for food processing and trading enterprises are set by the Ministries of Industry-Trade, Agriculture-Rural Development and Health, and even provided in a law and four Government decrees.

Business and investment conditions remain troublesome, affecting market entry, competitiveness and labor productivity of local firms, and leading to harassment. Therefore, ministries and agencies should continue abolishing business conditions to facilitate business activity.

The Ministry of Justice has proposed cutting 31 legal documents with unreasonable business conditions since July 1, 2015. In 2017 alone, the ministry suggested abolishing six documents, taking the total to 26.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said the reduction of business conditions is aimed at boosting competition among companies. The PM has assigned ministries to continue reviewing, evaluating and removing from one-third to half of the current business conditions that are hindering business and investment activities.

However, just five ministries had complied with the PM’s order by December 22 last year. The Ministry of Industry and Trade was the first to revise and remove 675 business and investment conditions among 1,216 conditions under its management.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also plans to amend 53 business conditions and abolish 65 others out of 345 conditions under its management. However, the ministry has not thrashed out specific amending solutions.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Construction has considerably streamlined business conditions. Particularly, the ministry has proposed eliminating nine fields and 89 conditions and simplifying 94 conditions out of the total 215. These proposals will be stated in a draft law amending and supplementing the Laws on Construction, Housing, Real Estate Business and Urban Planning and a draft Government decree.

Besides, the Ministry of Information and Communications has suggested amending and eliminating 51 business conditions but has yet to issue a roadmap.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) proposed maintaining business conditions in the banking sector as this is a sensitive business field.

Ten other ministries and agencies have yet to make proposals for business condition reductions. Certain ministries are struggling to tell business conditions and management criteria apart, said Dung.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment proposed the PM ask the Ministries of Finance, Science-Technology, Agriculture-Rural Development, Transport, Public Security, Health, Information-Communications, Natural Resources-Environment, National Defense, Culture-Sports-Tourism, Education-Training, and Labor-Invalids-Social Affairs, and SBV to quickly simplify business and investment procedures and report results to the PM this month.

Commenting on Resolution 01, economic experts said the resolution which had been prepared carefully with extremely important contents is expected to create social and economic breakthroughs this year, an important transitional year in the five-year socio-economic development plan between 2016 and 2020.

Tran Du Lich, an economic expert, said the Government had consulted ministries, agencies and experts before the resolution came out. The Government has issued feasible action plans to maintain economic growth, stabilize the macro economy, and speed up the economic restructuring.

In addition, the resolution lists 242 specific tasks for ministries, agencies and localities.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, president of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said the Government should boost the restructuring of State-owned enterprises, the banking system and public investment, and focus on developing the logistics, tourism and agriculture sectors.

Vietnam could be optimistic about the economic outlook this year thanks to higher-than-expected results in inflation control, economic growth, export-import operations and foreign currency reserves last year, said Nguyen Tri Hieu, another economic expert.

Foreign investors can continue seeking investment opportunities in Vietnam as the Government’s reforms and policie

Source: The Saigon Times